Where Are You Going, You Monkeys?

by கி. ராஜநாராயணன், Pritham K. Chakravarthy (Translator), Trotsky Marudu (Illustrator)

This is a collection of fun, imaginative, and sometimes quite racy folktales from South India. Ki. Rajanarayanan has spent three-quarters of a century collecting the weirdest and wildest tales from the karisal mannu, the scorched, drought-stricken land of Tamil Nadu.

This colourful and often hilarious collection includes a gallery of conniving goddesses and jealous husbands, pious sparrows and randy mice, jewel-crazy girl ghosts and angry star demons.

WARNING:
INCLUDES A CHAPTER OF "NAUGHTY & DIRTY" TALES!

Genres: India, Fiction, Humor, Short Stories

260 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

கி. ரா என்று சுருக்கமாக அழைக்கப்படும் கி. ராஜநாராயணன் (Ki. Rajanarayanan) கரிசல் இலக்கியத்தின் தந்தை என்று கருதப்படுபவர். கோவில்பட்டியின் அருகில் உள்ள இடைசெவல் கிராமத்தைச் சேர்ந்தவர். 1958இல் சரஸ்வதி இதழில் இவரது முதல் கதை வெளியானது. இவரின் கதையுலகம் கரிசல் வட்டாரத்து மக்களின் நம்பிக்கைகளையும், ஏமாற்றங்களையும், வாழ்க்கைப்பாடுகளையும் விவரிப்பவை.

கரிசல் வட்டார அகராதி என்று மக்கள் தமிழுக்கு அகராதி உருவாக்கிய முன்னோடி இவரே. சாகித்ய அகாடமி விருது, இலக்கிய சிந்தனை விருது, தமிழக அரசின் விருது, கனடா தமிழ் இலக்கியத் தோட்டத்தின் 2016ம் ஆண்டுக்கான தமிழ் இலக்கியச் சாதனை விருது உள்ளிட்ட தமிழின் முக்கிய இலக்கிய விருதுகள் பெற்றவர். 2016-17 ஆம் ஆண்டுக்கான மனோன்மணியம் சுந்தரனார் விருது கி.ராவிற்கு வழங்கப்பட்டது.

Ki. Rajanarayanan (Ki. Ra for short) was born in Idaiseval village in 1923. He dropped out of school in the seventh standard. He was appointed a professor of folklore at Pondicherry University in the 1980s. He held the title of Director of Folktales in the university's Documentation and Survey Centre. He was a member of the Communist Party of India and went to prison twice for his participation and support in the CPI organised peasant rebellions during 1947–51. In 1998-2002 he was a General council & Advisory board Member of Sahitya Akademi.

Ki. Ra.'s first published short story was Mayamaan (lit. The Magical Deer), which came out in 1958. It was an immediate success. Ki. Ra.'s stories are usually based in Karisal kaadu (scorched, drought stricken land around Kovilpatti ). He centres his stories around Karisal country's people, their lives, beliefs, struggles and folklore. The novels Gopalla Grammam (lit. Gopalla Village) and its sequel Gopallapurathu Makkal (lit. The People of Gopallapuram) are among his most acclaimed; he won the Sahitya Akademi award for the latter in 1991. Gopallapuram novels deals with the stories of people living in a South Indian village before the arrival of the British. It involves the migration of people escaping brutal kingdoms north of Tamil Nadu. As a folklorist, Ki. Ra. spent decades collecting folktales from the Karisal Kaadu and publishing them in popular magazines. In 2007, the Thanjavur based publishing house Annam compiled these folktales into a 944-page book, the Nattuppura Kadhai Kalanjiyam (Collection of Country Tales). As of 2009, he has published around 30 books. A selection of these were translated into English by Pritham K. Chakravarthy and published in 2009 as Where Are You Going, You Monkeys? – Folktales from Tamil Nadu. Ki. Ra. is well known for his candid treatment of sexual topics, and use of the spoken dialect of Tamil language for his stories (rather than its formal written form). In 2003, his short story Kidai was made into a Tamil film titled Oruthi. It was screened in the International Film Festival of India.

Reviews

[Harish Namboothiri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Where Are You Going You Monkeys, the collection of Tamil folk tales by Ki Rajanarayanan, thankfully is one that tries really hard to reduce the distance between oral and written formats of story telling. There is no interference from the collector's or translator's side, except certain footnotes that illuminate certain aspects of the stories that may be alien for today's readers. Author doesn't shy away from stories that portray the primeval value system of the narrators and that makes reading this collection a raw experience. The innocent sensibility of villagers- their prejudices, superstitions, social and economic behavioural patterns and above all their sharp humor, oozes out of the stories.

[Jaanaki · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Where are you going ,you Monkeys " ,translated by Pritam.K.Chakravarthy ,from the original "Natupurra Kadai Kalanjiyam",by Ki.Rajanarayana who is a versatile and engaging Tamil writer .This is another gem of a book published by @blaftpublications .
Folklore has always fascinated me .Nothing can present to you a microscopic view of the culture and traditions of a place ,a community ,a culture or a tribe as how folk stories do .This is very true especially in the case of stories that are passed down by oral tradition .These stories are usually expanded ,customised and improvised with little twists here and there that are meant to engage ,titillate and excited the listening audience .
This collection of Tamil folk tales do not disappoint at all.We have blood sucking ghosts ,beautiful apsaras , quarreling husband's and wives, thieves ,kings,snakes all amalgamated into stories that thrill you and make you laugh out loud.We even have a section for raunchy ,"dirty folk tales " ,which was tied by a red ribbon 😊.I loved their bookmark too .
This one can be kept on your shelf ,and taken out whenever you want to share stories with the people you love.

[Abhinav · Rating 5 out of 5]

Retelling close to a 100 folktales from Thamizhnadu, Ki.Ra. does a great job keeping the reader fully entertained. Being an engrossing read, the reader is sure to remember any of the stories the moment he sees a similar story or event elsewhere. Most of the stories translated by P.K.C. here are familiar to the readers exposed to the initial days of Tamizh cinema. It is clear that many older movies and in fact some of contemporary movies in Tamizh have borrowed the stories often without any minute changes. The book showcases an important aspect of village life and the then prevailing living conditions and practices and this makes the book rise to a very important position amongst ethnological research. Having read this book, now I am inspired to read the other works of Ki.Ra. in Tamizh as well.

[Vinita · Rating 4 out of 5]

this is a book i love picking up every once in a while and reading a story or two. It has some pretty crazy, funny and ridiculous folk stories. The narration is amazing, almost makes me feel like I am reading a comic book or an amar chitra katha. except that there is a section of stories right in the middle of the book (tied together in a red ribbon) that are marked as dirty obscene stories! obscenity ranges from pottytalk to penises!

[Shri · Rating 3 out of 5]

The tales before red-ribbon reminded me of "Siruvar Malar" stories that I used to read when I was a kid! And the "red-ribbon"ed stories ranged from really naughty to plain boring!

My favourite section has to be "Peys and Pisasus"! :D

Guess being a Tamilian might help appreciating some of the tales better!

[Indiabookstore · Rating 4 out of 5]

The stories are short, sweet and often come with an unexpected and vicious twist in the end that would leave many a desert scorpion panting for breath. The best part, though, is that almost none of the stories have the moralistic heavy-handedness of the fables of the Western world. Read the full review: http://www.indiabookstore.net/bookish...

[Sanchita · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some of them made me giggle. The others made me cringe. Truly, a delightful collection of folk tales that are sure to evoke reactions ranging from recognition across cultures to appalled incredulity.

[Ryk4shaw]

folktales from tamilnadu, highly simplistic - makes for a very breezy monday morning read in the loo ;)

[Gokul Rangarajan]

Very Good one, compiling all the rural stories , urban legends funny, witty stories. If you are from tamil nadu you would be able to relate it to it. Very inspiring book.